Down To Earth

Editorial. Sunita Narain.
I. XX.XV

Real Pride Of Ancient

Indian Science

by Sunita
Narain

I write this with
considerable impatience and one question. Do we
really have the time to waste on controversies
like what ancient India did or did not achieve by
way of scientific discoveries? This is when there
is the huge unfinished agenda to use the best of
science to tackle current challenges and
crises.

At the recently
concluded annual ritual of the Indian Science
Congress, the Union science and technology
minister drew solace from the fact that ancient
India had mathematical prowess—we gifted the
Pythagoras theorem and algebra to the world. There
is truth in this, no doubt. But this is about the
past. At best, it tells us to be proud of our
legacy. But what does it tell us about what needs
to be done to innovate for our needs?

There is no doubt that
Indian science is losing ground; every indicator
shows this. The ranking of our top scientific
educational institutions is consistently falling
and our achievements are fewer by the day. Most
importantly, Indian scientists are nowhere to be
seen in the world you and I inhabit. This is when
our modern world requires science to be integrated
into every aspect of daily life.

This is also the problem
I have with the current controversy about Vedic
science—whether we flew aircraft or mastered
plastic surgery is immaterial for modern India.
What matters is ancient Indians understood the
science and art of settlement planning,
architecture and governance of natural resources.
This is the history we need to learn because it
tells us what we must do right. These are the real
symbols of ancient India’s scientific
prowess.

Take water, for
instance. Traditionally, we built highly
sophisticated systems, which varied to suit
different ecosystems, for harvesting every drop of
water. Archaeological excavations near Allahabad
have found evidence of early Indian hydraulic
engineering. Dating back to the end of 1st century
BC, the Sringaverapura tank is a remarkable system
to take the floodwater of Ganga into a set of
desilting chambers, including water weirs, to
clean the water for drinking. It can be a matter
of belief that Lord Ram drank water from this
tank. But it is a fact that the technological
system is so evolved that it would put to shame
all public works engineers of today’s
India.

Dholavira, a settlement
off the coast of Gujarat, dates back to the Indus
Valley civilization. Archaeologists have found
this desert city had built lakes to collect
monsoon runoff, bunds and inlet channels to divert
water, and intricate drainage system for storm
water, drinking water and waste. Today, we cannot
even build city roads that do not get flooded each
monsoon, or protect lakes for storing
rainwater.

Till the time the
British came to India, the water traditions were
in vogue. British gazettes speak of these systems,
at times with awe, calling us a hydraulic society.
Sir William Willocks, a British irrigation
engineer, who was called in 1920 to advise the
administration on how to handle famines, said the
best answer was to go back to the ingenious system
of flood management of Bengal. This was never
done, of course.

Ancient Indians also
understood the art of water governance.
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written around 300
BC, has details of how tanks and canals are to be
built and managed. The key was to clarify the
enabling role of the state—the
king—and the management role of local
communities. The kings did not have armies of
public works engineers; they provided fiscal
incentives to communities and individuals who
built water systems. The British changed all this,
by vesting the resource with the state and
creating large bureaucracies for
management.

The British rulers also
changed the tax system; collection of revenue
became paramount, even during droughts. There was
little then to invest in community assets. The
decline came quickly and was cemented by polices
of independent India. This is the history of
resource management we need to learn.

But if we must be proud
of our water heritage and relearn its art and
science, then we must also reject its
ills—the focus on rituals and the evils of
the caste system. We are such a dirty nation
today—look at the untreated sewage in our
rivers and garbage on our streets—because we
come from a society where waste is an
“untouchable” business. As long as we
can live with the idea of manual
scavenging—somebody from a
“lower” caste will carry our excreta
away—we will never get a clean
India.

If we must glorify the
past, we must be proud of our present. This is
what we need to learn. Quickly.